Lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Monday approved the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff against vacancies in Delhi government-aided schools through the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB), officials aware of the development said.
The DSSSB is the state government’s staff recruitment agency, and a proposal for the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at government schools was moved by Delhi’s Department of Education (DoE).
These provisions shall be optional for government-aided minority schools as well.
The development comes amid an ongoing tussle between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the LG over the appointment of principals in government schools.
Officials in the LG office termed Monday’s move a “far-reaching” decision, which they said will “mitigate” and “curtail” malpractices like favouritism in the recruitment of government school staff.
“Since this would require a amendment in the Delhi School Education Rules (DSER), 1973 and the Delhi School Education Act (DSEA), 1973 that governs such provisions, the LG has directed the government (DoE) to follow the laid down procedure in this regard,” an official said, on condition of anonymity.
Delhi government officials did not comment on the matter.
Currently, staff at government-aided schools is recruited through a selection committee with the nomination of the Delhi director of education. According to officials at the LG office, the DSER are silent about the procedure to be adopted by these committees.
At the same time, to ensure that the autonomy of such schools and their selection committees, the LG office decided that against every vacancy to be filled, the selection committees will be provided with a panel of three names by the DSSSB for them to make a choice, officials in the LG office said.
In case of government schools, the DSSSB selects and provides one candidate against each vacancy.
JC Pahuja, general secretary, Delhi Aided Schools Management Association, said the move is against the Delhi Education Rules, 1973.
“Currently the recruitment is done by a committee formed under Delhi School Education Rules, 1973 where two members are from the school and three members are from the government. The move to conduct all recruitment through DSSSB will end the role of the school management. All the expenses for building and maintenance of the infrastructure is borne by the management while 95% of the salaries of the staff is paid by the government,” said Pahuja.
